Control Freak by Wayne Howell | Angus & Robertson | Books -
I hope this workshop to be a gentle introduction about what kind of hardware and software can be used to build interfaces for musical human interaction. I could divide this area in three levels. Only level one will be covered today. To mention a few. A is the modular version of Pocket Control with the 16 rotary controls replaced by 16 miniature jack sockets to process any control voltages instead of the manually generated voltages of Pocket Control.
Switching between the presets takes place with an 8-pin DIP switch on the pc board permanently or via incoming MIDI program change messages temporarily. If none of the factory presets is suitable new presets can be made with the Pocket Control editor which is available for free on our web site. Please look at the Pocket Control manual for details concerning the available factory presets until the English manual for A is available.
The snapshot button transmits the 16 momentary states of the 16 inputs as MIDI controller messages. For detailed information you may look at the A user's guide. If you are in the UK or Ireland, ask Alan, the doepfer dealer in Bristol, to provide you the right power supply. We could control old synthesisers. Module A is planned as a Trautonium resp. The controlling element of the A is a linear position sensor length about 50 cm that has available a pressure sensor too.
The picture above shows the prototype of the Frankfurt music fair. Touching the sensor with a finger generates a control voltage CV1 that is proportional to the position of the finger. Additionally a gate signal is generated whenever a finger touches the sensor e. A pressure sensor located below the position sensor generates a second control voltage CV2 that increases with higher pressure of the finger. Even for CV2 the scale is adjustable. A second gate signal is triggered as soon as the pressure exceeds a certain value probably adjustable at the front panel for the final version.
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The sensor will be located in a separate metal frame length about 55 cm, width about 5cm. Trautonium manual, the string is replaced by the position sensor that is much easier to use and cheaper than the string. In combination with the Subharmonic Oscillator A, the Trautonium Filter A and some auxiliary modules a complete Trautonium replica may be realized. In combination with the Quantizer A exact semitone intervals are possible. Ribbon Controller for any A parameter e. This information is not an obligatory product announcement. We do not guarantee that this device will go into production.
At the Frankfurt music fair in March we will show the prototype of the A The decision on the production will depend upon the customers inquiry. Current state as of April Because of the positive reactions during the Frankfurt music fair and the many inquiries we will produce the manual in every case. The price will be about The internal sensor is located at the front panel int. LDR of the module but a remote sensor may be connected via cable to the module jack: Thus the module A is similar to the Theremin module A but uses the illumination intensity instead of the distance between hand and antenna for generating the analog voltage.
Additionally the module is equipped with a Gate output with adjustable threshold level. Probably the module will also be available in a version with a separate case so that the antenna can be placed outside the A A and a linear VCA e. A or A are required. But of course the A can be used to control other functions in the A e.
A similiar module using the illumination intensity instead of the distance between hand and antenna is the Light-to-CV Converter A For detailed information you may look at the A user's guide English version. MIDI-In and Out connectors provide easy integration into a data stream and allows multiple Brain cards to be daisy-chained in applications requiring more than eight inputs.
Compact 4" X 6" form factor easily mounts in the enclosure of your choice or behind a 2W FracRak panel. Input sources can be simply potentiometer voltage dividers or CVs from Keyboards or alternative controllers. No external processing is usually required, as shown in the example. This is the fk in the price list below. This is the dk in the list.
The k Sensor Board kit is useful because it has processing electronics for external sensors and includes wall mount power supply, regulator, filter caps and so on to provide power for itself and Brain board both. Ten piezo disks are supplied and can be mounted on the board for a midi finger drum or extended on cable to serve as remote sensors.
Two pairs of sensors are assigned to single input channels allow for rolls using index and middle fingers. If you want to take finger drumming to it's logical conclusion, or even a little beyond, there are two case styles available. Rubber percussion pads to cover the piezo disks and provide a resilient percussion surface are included with the case. The FingerDrum is electronically identical to the ThumDrum but arranges the pads for two hand operation.
A Real World Guide to DMX512 and Remote Device Management
The FingerDrum electronics board is not very useful without the case, so case and electronics are included in the k FingerDrum kit. Cat Description price US Shipping Pic microcontrollers are mainly used to automate machinery and processes in factories. With our C Compiler you no longer have to worry about ROM and RAM paging, you can call to a depth limited only by RAM not by the 8 level call stack, use 8, 16 or 32 bit arithmetic types for full precision, and use any of our standard library routines for general purpose data handling and interfacing.
All devices are handled by standard C header files. Now with External Device Simulation. FED's simulators allows you to develop your projects in one Windows program. Full editor with syntax highlighting in color. Follow your code as it steps through the editor window, view help file information directly from the code Set breakpoint on line, jump to label, evaluate memory variables all by single click Simulator allows addressed, conditional and timed breakpoints Simulator runs up to 50 times faster than DOS based simulators, 10 times faster than other Windows based simulators!
Trace Analyser allows any register or port value to be examined in analogue graphical , waveform, or numeric values, check your program directly against your predicted waveforms. Debugger allows variables to be examined in byte, word or long form, octal, decimal, hex and floating form, also dump memory areas Profiler examines and times called routines - use it to optimise out bottle necks and check timing loops Track errors and jump straight to error lines Input stimuli include clocks, direct values and asynchronous serial data.
From any of our applications it is then possible to set breakpoints on theMCU, run code, single step, examine registers on the real device and change their values. The ICD makes debugging real time applications faster, easier and more accurate than simulation tools available for the MCU. The FED in circuit debugger has the following features: Allows real hardware to be examined and programs to be debugged in the application and to be run in real time.
Powered from the application circuit 3. Can program and re-program applications in circuit Up to 3 breakpoints Run, single step and step over, run to cursor line, set PC to any value in the program Trace execution in the original C or Assembler source files Animate operation to trace variables at breakpoints or watch the program executing Auto Run application if ICD not connected View and change values of MCU special function and general purpose registers, W and the ports.
Uses a standard 3 wire serial interface to a PC More detail on the use of the ICD and a comparison with other systems. The purpose of these devices is to measure the actions of a person, often a performer, and to make the data available to a device that can respond intelligently to what is happening. In terms of commercially available devices, we have attempted to list the best known and most readily available sensors here.
Making Your Own Sensors There are two reasons that you may need to create your own sensory devices. The first strike against commercial sensors is probably their expense. We are artists after all, and that means we're usually short on cash. The second reason is that off-the-shelf objects may not measure the specific actions that you are looking for, or may not measure them in the way that you need. This section is designed to help you find the information you need to create simple and relatively inexpensive interactive sensory systems.
If you are a beginner, we strongly encourage you to start at Dan O'Sullivan's incredible Physical Computing pages. This "hands on guide for artists" goes into great detail, from choosing sensors to soldering to interfacing them to a microcontroller. Next, we would like to list a few very simple ideas for beating off-the-shelf components into submission for your own purposes. These inputs can be connected to piezo sensors, which respond to vibration or impact.
You can purchase these sensors at Radio Shack very inexpensively, and then hook these up to the inputs on the drum controller or drum machine. Because they are small and thin, the sensors can be attached to a number of surfaces walls and floors , embedded in costumes, etc. Moving the slider causes some kind of MIDI information often a continuous controller message to be sent out of the box. It is fairly easy to crack open these boxes, disconnect the existing faders and replace them with your own. This requires a bit of courage because it is possible to destroy the object in question if you are unskilled with a soldering iron, etc.
The procedure is outlined below. There are a number of possible applications, but obvious choices include measuring the angle of joints, how a viewer is touching parts of an installation, etc. Note that we do not assume any responsibility for damage that occurs when modifying devices in the way described below. If you are at all unsure how to do the following procedure, either don't do it or find a knowledgeable friend to help you! Disconnect power from the device and open its enclosure.
Look for the wires that are connected to the sliders or knobs we'll call them faders from here on. There should be three wires connected to each fader. Make a diagram of the wires connected to the fader. Better yet, number the contacts with a permanent marker and then, using a piece of tape, mark each wire with its matching number.
Unsolder the wires from the fader. You will need to find out the resistance value of the fader. If there is a rating printed on the fader itself, i. If not, you can measure the resistance yourself using a volt-ohm-meter. To find out the fader's resistance value, measure the resistance between all three pairs of contacts. Two pairs will change resistance when you move the fader. One pair will not. The resistance of the fader between these two points is the fader's rated resistance.
At this moment, the connection that you are not touching is called the "wiper. At your local electronics store or Radio Shack, purchase a potentiometer with the same rating as you found in the previous steps. You will want to solder your potentiometer in place of the fader that you disconnected.
On the potentiometer that you purchase, you can determine the "wiper" in exactly the same way that you did above. On rotary potentiometers, the wiper is always the connection in the middle of the group of three. Attach the wire that used to go to the wiper on the device's fader to the wiper of your new potentiometer. You should be able to turn on power to your device, and use your new fader to generate MIDI in the same way in which the old fader did. Custom Devices Many artists have created their own sensory systems to suit their specific needs. These creations range from the simplest hybrids of multiple off-the-shelf items to systems that were created from the ground up.
We have listed several of the devices that we know of here, in the hopes that they may serve as source of ideas and inspiration. The sensors measures the flexion of several joints wrists, elbows, hips, and knees of the body. The resulting movement information, measured is sent via a wireless link to a box that decodes the information and passes on to a computer in the form of MIDI continuous controller information.
The resulting information is sent via a wireless link to a decoder, which then passes the information on to a computer for processing. This unit was commercially available at one time, though I am not sure if it is any longer in production. Please send an email if you have more current information. Axel Mulder's IceCube is a input device that can measure a wide variety of input sources. Sensors available for the IceCube include: The package also includes MAX objects designed specifically to take advantage features of the IceCube system.
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Lightning and marimba lumina. Don Buchla's lighting allows the computer to track the position of two "wands" in space. The wands actually small infra-red transmitters are generally held in the hands of the performer, and moved about in front of a receiver. This box has 32 channels of analog to digital conversion, 2 ultrasound inputs for measuring distance between sensors, switch inputs and more. David Rokeby's system has received a lot of attention and has been used in several notable installations. VNS is a non-invasive motion tracking system that analyzes input coming from a video camera.
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It can sense motion in a space and where that motion occurs. At short distances, cables with higher capacitance and different characteristic impedance such as microphone cable can be used. As the cable length or number of devices increases, following the specification for termination and correct cable impedance becomes more important. Specifically, the standard recommends that transmitter ports DMX controller OUT port have a low impedance connection between signal common and ground; such ports are referred to as grounded.
It is further recommended that receivers have a high impedance connection between signal common and ground; such ports are referred to as isolated. The standard also allows for isolated transmitter ports. The standard allows for non-isolated receivers. The standard recommends that systems ground the signal common at only one point, in order to avoid the formation of disruptive ground loops. Grounded receivers that have a hard connection between signal common and ground are permitted but their use is strongly discouraged.
Several possible grounding configurations which are commonly used with EIA are specifically disallowed by E1. The original DMX specified that where connectors are used, the data link shall use five-pin XLR style electrical connectors XLR-5 , with female connectors used on transmitting OUT ports and male connectors on receiving ports. The use of any other XLR style connector is prohibited.
Several manufacturers used other pinouts for RJ connectors prior to this inclusion in the standard. Other form-factors of connectors are permitted on equipment where the XLR and RJ would not fit or are considered inappropriate, for example on equipment intended for permanent installation. A concession to use an alternate connector is available only when it is physically impossible to mount a 5-pin XLR connector on the product. In such cases all the following additional requirements shall be met: The 8P8C modular connector pinout matches the conductor pairing scheme used by Category 5 Cat5 twisted pair patch cables.
The avoidance of pins 4 and 5 helps to prevent equipment damage, if the cabling is accidentally plugged into a single-line public switched telephone network phone jack. In the early days of digital lighting control, several equipment manufacturers eg Martin Professional employed various different connectors and pinouts for their proprietary digital control signals. The most common of these was the three-pin XLR connector also called cannon jack in some countries.
When DMX was ratified, many of these manufacturers then issued firmware updates to enable the use of DMX control on their existing equipment by the use of a simple adapter to and from the standard 5-pin XLR style connector. As the electrical specification currently only defines a purpose for a single wire pair, some equipment manufacturers continue to use it. Such equipment is not compliant with the DMX standard, but may be sufficiently compatible for operation using simple adapters. The standard cables used in DMX networks employ XLR5 connectors , with a male connector on one end and a female connector on the other end.
The cable's male connector attaches to the transmitting, female jack OUT , and its female connector attaches to the receiving, male jack IN.
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Cabling for DMX was removed from the standard and a separate cabling standards project was started in This resolved issues arising from the differences in requirements for cables used in touring shows versus those used for permanent infrastructure. The electrical characteristics of DMX cable are specified in terms of impedance and capacitance, although there are often mechanical and other considerations that must be considered as well.
Cable types that are appropriate for DMX usage will have a nominal characteristic impedance of ohms. Conversely, microphone and line level audio cables lack the requisite electrical characteristics and thus are not suitable for DMX cabling. The significantly lower impedance and higher capacitance of these cables distort the DMX digital waveforms, which in turn can cause irregular operation or intermittent errors that are difficult to identify and correct.
The data format is fixed at one start bit, eight data bits least significant first [7] , two stop bits and no parity. The start of a packet is signified by a break followed by a "mark" a logical one , known as the "Mark After Break" MAB. The break, which signals the end of one packet and the start of another, causes receivers to start reception and also serves as a frame position reference for data bytes within the packet.
Framed data bytes are known as slots. Following the break, up to slots are sent. The first slot is reserved for a "Start Code" that specifies the type of data in the packet. A start code of 0x00 hexadecimal zero is the standard value used for all DMX compatible devices, which includes most lighting fixtures and dimmers.
ESTA maintains a database of alternate start codes. All slots following the start code contain control settings for slave devices. A slot's position within the packet determines the device and function to be controlled while its data value specifies the control set point. DMX timing parameters may vary over a wide range. The original authors specified the standard this way to provide the greatest design flexibility.
Because of this, however, it was difficult to design receivers that operated over the entire timing range.
As a result of this difficulty, [ ] the timing specification of the original standard was changed in Specifically, the MAB, which was originally fixed at 4? Maximum times are not specified because as long as a packet is sent at least once per second, the BREAK, MAB, inter-slot time, and the mark between the last slot of the packet and the break MBB can be as long as desired. For higher refresh rates, packets having fewer than channels can be sent.
The standard does not specify the minimum number of slots that can be sent in a packet. However, it does require that packets be transmitted so that the leading edges of any two sequential BREAKs must be separated by at least ? Dimmer packs or racks use a group of slots to determine the levels for their dimmers. Typically a dimmer has a starting address that represents the lowest numbered dimmer in that pack, and the addressing increases from there to the highest numbered dimmer.
As an example, for two packs of six dimmers each, the first pack would start at address 1 and the second pack at address 7. Each slot in the DMX packet corresponds to one dimmer. DMX does not mandate a method of bit encoding for Null Start Code packets, however many parameters of moving lights make use of encoding larger than 8 bit numbers. To control these parameters more accurately, some fixtures use two channels for parameters that require greater accuracy. The first of the two channels controls the coarse steps for the whole range of movement and the second the fine steps for each coarse step , this gives a bit value range of steps, permitting much greater accuracy for any bit controlled parameter such as Pan or Tilt.
DMX's popularity is partly due to its robustness. The cable can be abused without any loss of function in ways that would render Ethernet or other high speed data cables useless, although cable faults can occasionally lead to intermittent problems such as random triggering. Unexpected fixture behavior is caused by addressing errors, cable faults, or incorrect data from the controller.
In the and standards the use of the second data pair is not defined other than as an 'optional second data link' both unidirectional and bidirectional use were envisioned. Other proprietary uses have been implemented for these pins. Schemes that use voltage outside of the range allowed by EIA are disallowed. Guidance on allowed usage can be found in Annex B of E1. Current standard practice is to leave the secondary data link pins unused. Some manufacturers made units with three-pin XLR connectors, because of their lower cost.
However, as 3-pin XLRs are commonly used for connecting microphones and sound mixing consoles , there is a risk of wrongly connecting DMX equipment to microphones and other sound equipment.